Wichita eagle., 1887-05-13
WAR on THE RHINE.
A VETERANS VIEW OF THE FRENCH
AND GERMAN ARMIES.

The Condition Existing in 1870 in
! Favor of Germany Win Aid France
| Should Hostilities Break Out-Hatred
/ of Bismarck.
The ~riser passed some time in the French
and German camps on the eve Of the Franco
| Prussian war. The popular feeling then was
good Indication Of what was to occur at the
| first provocation. Germany arose as one
man; II arose for an idea, and France went
as far a. personal euthu<.asn for q romantic
| figure cold carry it and broke down when
| the imperial papTet vas removed. There Is
en- Interesting field for study IN the two
nations today as they stand logically pitte]
against each ether by reason of clashing ira
ditions and opposing principles of govern
ment- There seems to be, however n COM
piete reversal OF circumstances; and much
! that fazerei Germany IN $50 is not with
CermaEr to-day, but is with France: and
much taat weakened France under the second
empire l. not with France to-day. bat IS with
the riyal empire across the Rhine
Prussia has become the empire and the Old
opposition cry Of 1855 against Bismarck
one Ina power.-has come to full realiza-
ton 15-e states have had union, a national
seatimeus and national policy, and what do
they think OF thema The discomfort Of the
people lbs not sufsided; poverty has in
increase. emigration has gone on at q Won
derfuI rs.se The people turned away from
loyalty o princes and nobility, the old tie
that bousId land and people and government
and theis golden traditions are gone. Great
estates lave absorbed the land and the young
Eo-- al
love the native soil. There are many indica-
tons III N the surface to show a state Of
things FL different to that of 1870. Expert
ence has taught them that they have ex-
changed UGH liberties as their lazy and
frivolous. kinelets allowed them for a mental
service , a mighty and all absorbing power
that girls on renorselessly, power only
great in Itself and reducing all outside to
littleness more beggarly than before.
The Germans have stood for independence.
progress iu thought and the amelioration
OF man. But it is not many years since
Bisnlar Z sounded warming note of
another kind It was not aimed at a
foreign zee, but an internal one, namely:
sensualis l. He said that dissipation was
sapping the manliness of the nation. All
OF that E....hty force of human energy called
up by tie political asitations CT Bismarcks
early DAYS turned from the noble channels of
lofty en-. ieayor to petty indulgence and base
gratifica% yns The beer and music gardens
conquered .he all conquering Germans and
their warmest friends have mourned over it.
In another direction the energies of that
powerful people were turned into fields OF
scientiiis discovery and Virchow and Buch-
ner, not to mention Darwin and other out
siders, lei the excited minds into all the daz-
cling mysteries Of organic creation and de-
velopmeiIt, and the dest Slctive school OF Bible
critics at Stuttgart, with Bauer at the head,
paved the way for Widespread materialsm
that has borne fruit in this age.
But in France all is national, all is fixed
upon one idea, ultimately, and that idea de-
stroys the possibility of any alarming spirit
of neutrality or Indifference. Legitimist,
imperiaIist. republican or socialist, believe in
France, and once France is exalted the fac
tons can settle somehow which shall rule
This national ambition is not one of conquest,
but looks only to the Rhenish border, to AL
SAGE and the old provinces where Germany
stands il the way. The name of German
brings ~ a spectre that all Frenchmen 10y
ally hate
Row cfie man of France who nurses this
hatred of Germany is the citizen, the free and
bourgeois. He is in the army and
he stands today in the same relation to the
struggle for nationality that his German
counter part did in 1870 toward the unifica-
ton of Germany. The regular army of Ger
many Is a body Of Conscripts, and made up Of
peasants who cannot evade the rigorous
draft. This peasant conscript lives in the
barrack and has ell the traditions OF imperial
service to hold him TO his work. He was
mental out of the army, and his pickel-haube
and breechloader makes him q man of corse-
quence. Beyond what this boorish en-
thusiasm for strong crown amounts to,
Bismarck cannot hope for popular support
outside of Prussia. The burgher or citizen
element in the standing army is independent.
1t is voluntary in sense, is self-sustaining,
lives outside the barracks, and looks upon the
service as an evil and burden TO be avoided. |
When this element comes to be summoned in
the Landwehr for field duty, the crown must |
show good reason for its action or the Land |
wehr viii not stand to its work. The brunt |
Of battle in a new conflict with France viii |
doubtless fall upon the ignorant peasantry Of |
Germany, who can be held to their posts and |
VIII have sort Of brute enthusiasm, good so
ong as kept in motion. But Bismarck never |
vet won fight with such material In 1866 |
the Prussian schoolrnaster whipped the Aus |
TRAN boor at Sadova- That was the boast |
Of the time. In 1870 the schoolmaster and |
his enthusiasts young ally from the burgher |
class struck together for the unitication of |
Germany at Sedan. Both then made way
under the empire for huge standing army of |
the most illiterate orders who could not /
escape BY emigration, or get exemption /
through privileges open to the bnrgher class,
and so the man in pickel-haube to-day is a
peasant. His French antagonist viii be a
,itizen whose heart is in his work, and whose |
nation is his God.-George L. kilmer in New
York Mail and Express.